City officials and the developer of a mobile home park reached an impasse in compromise talks last week, setting the stage for a costly, and perhaps, lengthy legal fight over the developer's sewage disposal plans.Council members also have decided go slow on a request from the owner of the Southern Oaks nursing home to approve a bond issue to build a 60-bed addition and refinance a $750,000 debt on the existing facility.St. Cloud officials are contesting a permit issued last year by the state Department of Environmental Regulation for percolation ponds at the Sugar Mill mobile home park off Brown Chapel Road.

Maitland has about a week to decide whether it will pay a $110,000 state penalty for illegally dumping sewage near Lake Jackson or fight the fine, which the Department of Environmental Protection says is its final offer. DEP originally proposed a penalty of $182,000 and then cut it by $72,000 for Maitland's "good faith" efforts to fix the problem. But it stopped well short of the $3,600 penalty that Maitland argued for in a 13-page letter last month. "The City of Maitland immediately implemented corrective measures," according to the latest DEP calculation.

Some Deltona Utilities customers are complaining that a sewage disposal plan being proposed by the company would make a majority of them pay for a service to only a few.The plan, outlined in notices mailed with utility bills this week, would spread the cost of the system among about 35,000 water customers. Only 4,000 customers would be hooked up to the system; the rest of the residents have septic tanks.''Why should everybody in Deltona pay for something to 4,000 people?'' asked Bob Maxwell, executive director of the community's Chamber of Commerce.

Minneola's theory on growth is simple, if a bit unorthodox:No sewage plant means houses on big lots.Sewage plant means houses squished together on tiny plots.''We want to keep our densities low and not get into big urban development,'' said Mayor Stephen Parrish.But what officials of this lake-front community think is a cheap, uncomplicated way to beat the pressure to develop has led to a big conflict with the state - one that could land them in court shortly.The south Lake city's plan makes no sense, said Mike McDaniel, growth management administrator for the state agency that regulates development.

Here's an unfortunate summary of what the Soviet Union's glasnost has revealed but perestroika has not been able to correct as yet: Of 276 basic Soviet consumer items, 243 cannot be found in shops. Eighteen percent of Soviet urban residents live in shared housing. In rural areas, only 27 percent of the housing stock has sewage disposal. Below the poverty rate are 16 percent of the population.Disease is rampant: hepatitis, 861,000 cases; typhoid, 11,000 to 16,000. Hospitals and clinics are a shambles: 65 percent of all rural district hospitals do not have hot water, 27 percent do not have sewage disposal, and 17 percent have no water at all. Pollution problems, including nuclear radiation, are horrendous.

City officials and the developer of the Sugar Mill mobile home park are scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. today to work out a final agreement in their year-old dispute over the park's proposed sewage disposal system.City Manager Jim Chisholm and the developer, Marion Properties of Ocala, reached a tentative settlement last week, but the council must approve the proposal.If the two sides reach a compromise, the city has agreed to drop its petition for an administrative hearing set for Oct. 29 on Sugar Mill's sewage permit from the state Department of Environmental Regulation.

Negotiations are nearly completed on a proposal that will connect a section of neighboring Minneola to the Clermont sewerage system.Clermont officials last week approved a tentative agreement to provide service to The Oaks Condominium, a 40-unit development in Minneola less than a half-mile from the Clermont city limits.Minneola, which has no sewerage system presently, is expected to approve the contract next month.Originally built in 1981 with a private plant for sewage disposal, The Oaks has a history of system problems, particularly during peak holiday periods.

City officials have reached an agreement with the utility handling sewage for Orange Blossom Gardens to handle sewage disposal for the southern portion of the city during the next four years.The agreement with Sunbelt Utilities Inc. is a joint deal between the city and the private utility to share responsibility for sewage treatment.''It puts us in the sewer business,'' said Town Manager John Lynch.The city has an unfinished $2.5 million sewer plant the City Commission temporarily shelved last year until they have enough volume to feasibly operate the plant.

The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation Monday approved a new site for dumping untreated restaurant waste. It replaces an unacceptable dump site which had been in use for at least two years.The waste is the sludge that accumulates in 1,000- to 1,500-gallon underground settling tanks that allow grease, soap and other kitchen wastes to separate from sewage that runs into the city sewer system. The sewage disposal companies pump the sludge from the tanks every two to six weeks to keep it from backing up into the restaurants' kitchen drains.

Stopped-up drains, overflowing toilets and other sewage disposal problems soon may be a thing of the past for Minneola residents living at The Oaks.Clermont officials have authorized City Manager Wayne Saunders and City Attorney Lenny Baird to draw up an agreement enabling the 40-unit Oaks condominiums to tap into the Clermont sewer system.Under the agreement between Clermont and Minneola officials, a sewage pumping station would be installed to provide service to The Oaks. But the project wouldn't connect other Minneola residences into the Clermont system.

With gloved hands, Bruce Eastman scoops up a mound of muddy gunk, exposing several dozen slithering, blood-red earthworms.He grins - despite the faint stench of sewage wafting through the air.''The worms kind of outdid themselves,'' said Eastman, a specialist with the Orange County Environmental Protection Department.Eastman wants to know whether the worms can effectively eliminate disease-causing viruses and bacteria from sludge - the byproduct of treated sewage. Their digestive systems are thought to produce a sanitized end product.

Growth in Lake County's largest city is at a standstill: Less than 30 homes were built last year in Leesburg, compared with 420 constructed in 1989.Such grim numbers - blamed on a sluggish economy - have led some Leesburg leaders to contend they shouldn't begin construction of a new sewage disposal site until the city's growth rate picks up again.City commissioners Monday night voted unanimously to accept blueprints for a new sewage spray field drafted by Gainesville consulting firm CH2M Hill.

Negotiations are nearly completed on a proposal that will connect a section of neighboring Minneola to the Clermont sewerage system.Clermont officials last week approved a tentative agreement to provide service to The Oaks Condominium, a 40-unit development in Minneola less than a half-mile from the Clermont city limits.Minneola, which has no sewerage system presently, is expected to approve the contract next month.Originally built in 1981 with a private plant for sewage disposal, The Oaks has a history of system problems, particularly during peak holiday periods.

Stopped-up drains, overflowing toilets and other sewage disposal problems soon may be a thing of the past for Minneola residents living at The Oaks.Clermont officials have authorized City Manager Wayne Saunders and City Attorney Lenny Baird to draw up an agreement enabling the 40-unit Oaks condominiums to tap into the Clermont sewer system.Under the agreement between Clermont and Minneola officials, a sewage pumping station would be installed to provide service to The Oaks. But the project wouldn't connect other Minneola residences into the Clermont system.

Boosters of a proposed federal prison in Sumter County are convinced they have the project locked up, so they are planning a hoedown to celebrate.The Sumter County Development Council has sent out invitations for a May 15 event billed as ''the announcement party for the federal corrections complex.''However, federal officials insist they still are deciding where to place the $150 million prison for 2,950 inmates.''As far as the Bureau of Prisons is concerned, our director hasn't even made a decision,'' said Kevin McMahon, a prison official who has been steering the project.

City officials have reached an agreement with the utility handling sewage for Orange Blossom Gardens to handle sewage disposal for the southern portion of the city during the next four years.The agreement with Sunbelt Utilities Inc. is a joint deal between the city and the private utility to share responsibility for sewage treatment.''It puts us in the sewer business,'' said Town Manager John Lynch.The city has an unfinished $2.5 million sewer plant the City Commission temporarily shelved last year until they have enough volume to feasibly operate the plant.

A controversial rezoning request that failed in a deadlock vote is back on next week's agenda for a second chance.Mayor Harvey Smerilson, who joined Commissioner June Lormann in opposing the rezoning Monday, placed the issue on Monday's agenda because he changed his mind after looking at the configuration of the property.Smerilson calculated Monday that Centex Homes of Florida could build 144 single-family homes on the 44-acre parcel, but Tuesday he realized that septic tank restrictions would limit the number to 100.Centex had asked to change its residential zoning to build smaller homes on smaller lots.

About 175 Deltona Utilities Inc. customers walked into a public hearing late Tuesday and began skeptically questioning a corporation plan to charge all of them for a service used only by a few.The crowd at the Deltona community center appeared for a Florida Public Services Commission hearing on a corporation plan to charge customers of both its water and sewer services for a new sewage disposal system.The first hour of the hearing was taken up by corporation executives and officials from PSC, the Department of Environmental Regulation and the St. Johns River Water Management District explaining the benefits of a disposal system that would end dumping treated sewage into Lake Monroe.

Here's an unfortunate summary of what the Soviet Union's glasnost has revealed but perestroika has not been able to correct as yet: Of 276 basic Soviet consumer items, 243 cannot be found in shops. Eighteen percent of Soviet urban residents live in shared housing. In rural areas, only 27 percent of the housing stock has sewage disposal. Below the poverty rate are 16 percent of the population.Disease is rampant: hepatitis, 861,000 cases; typhoid, 11,000 to 16,000. Hospitals and clinics are a shambles: 65 percent of all rural district hospitals do not have hot water, 27 percent do not have sewage disposal, and 17 percent have no water at all. Pollution problems, including nuclear radiation, are horrendous.

Treated sewage that Deltona Utilities was supposed to stop dumping into Lake Monroe 13 months ago can keep flowing into the lake for 11 more months, the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation has decided.DER and the water and sewer systems' new owner, Southern States Utilities Services Inc., have signed an agreement that allows the sewage - as much as 900,000 gallons per day - to flow into the lake until Nov. 1, 1990. Southern States is a subsidiary of a utilities network that bought the Deltona systems in June.